1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the general field of casino gaming and, more particularly, is a method of playing a Poker game in a casino.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Poker is the most frequently played card game in the United States. Moreover, Poker has a gambling aspect whereby a player is permitted to wager that he holds a poker hand that is superior to poker hands held by all other players in the game. Without the gambling aspect, Poker would be one of the least frequently played card games.
What is arguably the earliest form of poker was played with a deck of twenty cards during the 1830's on Mississippi river boats. Currently, there are approximately 100 variations of poker, most of which are played with a conventional deck of 52 cards. Typically, the number of players in a Poker game is from two to eight.
An invariant feature of almost all Poker games is that a hand is comprised of five cards. The value of the hand is determined by its rank. The player with the highest ranking hand is usually the winner. The rankings of Poker hands, in descending order, are given as:
ROYAL FLUSH, (Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit); PA1 STRAIGHT FLUSH, (five cards in sequence in any suit, i.e. Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, of the same suit); PA1 FOUR OF A KIND, (four Aces is highest); PA1 FULL HOUSE, (THREE OF A KIND plus a PAIR, i. e., 10, 10, 10, King King); PA1 FLUSH (Five cards of the same suit); PA1 STRAIGHT (five cards in sequence but of different suits, i.e., (Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7); PA1 THREE OF A KIND (Three cards of the same rank, i.e., three Aces); PA1 TWO PAIRS (i.e., two Kings and two 10's); PA1 ONE PAIR (two 5's); and PA1 NO PAIR
In a notable variation, poker is sometimes played with a deck of cards that includes a Joker which carries an image of a medieval court jester. The Joker is what is known as a wild card which has any desired rank. When, for example, a hand includes an Ace, 10, 4, 3, Joker, the Joker can have the rank of an Ace whereby the hand has the rank of a pair of Aces.
Traditionally, in the Poker game, one player plays against all other players. However, because of an increased popularity of casino gaming, there has been a correspondingly increased popularity of Casino Poker games where each player plays against a dealer who represents the casino. Exemplary of the Casino Poker games is Caribbean Stud Poker which is described in U. S. Pat. No. 4,836,553.
In all but small stake traditional Poker games, the casino charges an hourly fee for providing a dealer and whatever else is needed. However, the Casino Poker game is structured to give the casino an advantage that can provide more revenue than the hourly fee.